Head and back rest.



A. W. POWELL.

HEAD AND BACK REST.

APPLICATION FILED MAYL, 1909.

Patented Nov. 23, 1909.

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ALMA WEBSTER POWELL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

HEAD AND BACK REST.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALMA VEBSTER PownLL, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of the borough of Brooklyn, in the city and State of New York, have invented a new and useful improvement in Head and Back Rests, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to portable head and back rests, especially those of the aircushion type, for use in steamer chairs, invalid chairs and other like seats; and the present invention consists in certain novel combinations of parts, and in a combined head rest and back rest embodying such combinations, or any of them, as hereinafter more particularly described and claimed.

rlhe leading object of this invention is to adapt a portable head rest to alford a restful support for the chin or either cheek as well as the back of the head, so that the head will be comfortably supported if inclined forward or sidewise as well as when thrown back, and in any position of sleep or rest other than horizontal.

Another object of the invention is to afford a restful supplemental cushion for the hollow of the back or for use immediately beneath the shoulder blades when the head is thrown back between the head-rest cushions.

Other objects will be set forth in the general description which follows:

A sheet of drawings accompanies this specification as part thereof.

Figure l is an elevation of the combined head rest and back rest with its head-rest portion open; FiO. 2 represents a top view of the head-rest portion of the same article as it appears when closed beneath the chin.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in both figures.

The improved article of manufacture is composed of a pair of head-rest cushions, l and 2; a back-rest cushion, 3; a flexible connection, el, between the pair of head-rest cushions; suitable means, represented by a strap, 5, and buckle, 6, for fastening the front ends of the head-rest cushions l and 2 beneath the chin; and a flexible and vertically adjustable Y-shaped connection, 7, between the pair of head-rest cushions l and 2 and the back-rest cushion 3.

Each of the cushions l, 2 and 3 is preferably and conveniently an air bag of thin rubber, or the like, normally flat, inclosed Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 4, 1909.

Patented Nov. 23, 1909.

Serial No. 493,852.

within a suitable textile covering, and rendered inflatable at will by means of a valved nozzle, 8, which for the purposes of the present invention may be of any known or improved construction.

The head-rest cushions l and 2 are of one and the same shape, and adapted to extend from the back of the neck around beneath the chin when the inflated head rest is fastened in place `or closed as in Fig. 2. As thus completed and adjusted the head rest affords a convenient central depression, 9, Fig. 2,

at the back of the neck into which the headmay sett-le when thrown back, and also a like depression, l0, Fig. 2, between the front ends of the cushions l and 2, beneath the chin, and effective supports interposed between the cheek and shoulder to support the head when inclined to either side. When the head is thrown back into said depression 9 between the head-rest cushions l and 2, the back-rest cushion 3 partly inflated may be used to advantage beneath the shoulder blades; or the more or less fully inflated back-rest cushion 3 may be used in the hollow of the back, having been located as to height to fit the user by means of the adjust able connection 7.

T he flexible connection a between the head-rest cushions l and 2 may be formed by contracting a textile covering common to the two cushions; the fastening means 5 and 6 may be attached to the same textile covering of the head-rest cushions; and the Y-shaped connection 7, Fig. l, may be inseparably attached at its upper end to the covering or coverings of the head-rest cushions, and looped by a staple-shaped attachment, ll, to the textile covering of the back-rest cushion 3. The preferred shape of each of the inflated head-rest cushions l and 2 as represented by the drawings may be described as that of an elongated, curved, tapered and round-ended cushion, round or substantially round in cross section when fully inflated. he back-rest cushion 3 is ovoidal in shape, as represented in F ig. l, with its longer axis horizontal, and said staple-like attachment ll at its upper edge. ln an air cushion, this shape serves to prevent t-he displacement of the bulk of air to one side or the other; the pointed ends preventing the bulk of the air passing into one end of the cushion when the back presses upon the other end, and thus keeping the air bulk always in the middle where it is most needed and where it is accommodated I pression at the back of the neck between said by the greater sectional area of the cushion rl`he same is substantially ed ends.

at mid length. true of the `pair of head rest cushions in which the larger rounded rear ends accommodate the bulk of the air and the tapering form of the cushions prevents the displacey ment of the bulk of air to one side or the other and operates to confine it to a sufficient extent where it is most needed.

TvVhen the cushions are flattened by permitting the air to escape the article may be rolled or folded into a very small compass, and conveniently carried in even a small hand bag so as to be available for use when needed.

Other means for fastening the head-rest beneath the chin may obviously be substituted for the strap and buckle 5 and 6 represented in the drawings; other adjusting means may be substituted for the buckle l2 forming part of the Y -shaped connection 7; and other like modifications will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

Having thus described said improvement, I claim as my invention, and desire'to patent under this specification.

l. The combination, in a portable article of the air cushion type, of a pair of flexibly connected head-rest cushions cach provided with an inl'lating' and dellating nozzle, a flexible connection between said cushions at their rear ends and fastening' means'at their front ends, said cushions being elongated, curved, tapered and round ended in shape, and thus adapted to conline the bulk of the air to a suliicient extent within the rear ends of the cushionsv and to form a central derear ends and a like depression beneath the chin between their adjoining smaller round- 2. In combination with a portable head rest, a subjacently supported back rest in the form of an air cushion tapering laterally from its middle to its ends and provided with an inflating and deflating nozzle.

3. The combination, in a portable article of the air cushion type, of a pair of headrest cushions and a subjacent back-rest cushion, each provided with an intlating' and deflating nozzle, a textile covering for said head-rest cushions forming' a flexible connection between the cushions at the back of the neck, fastening means attached to the front ends of said covering for closing' the head rest beneath the chin, a textile covering for said back-rest cushion, and a flexible connection between the three cushions.

4. A combined head rest and back rest including a pair of elongated head-rest cushions adapted to form central depressions at the back of the neck and beneath the chin and to form lateral as well as front and rear supports for the head, a Subj acent back rest cushion, a flexible connection between saidL head-rest cushions at their rear ends, fastening means at their front ends, and a flexible and Y-shaped piece connecting the three cusdhions, substantially as hereinbefore specifie ALMA WEBSTER POWELL. i

lVitnesses:

SADin E. MARTIN, GEORGE CASSA. 

